Category Archives: Publications of Interest

Eric Liu, founder of Citizen’s University, has published a new book: You’re More Powerful than You Think: A Citizen’s Guide to Making Change Happen (Public Affairs). This book offers a timely perspective on bottom-up citizen power and elaborates on Liu’s recent article in the Atlantic: “How Donald Trump Is Reviving American Democracy.” An interview with Liu on the WNYC Leonard Lopate show highlighted the important role of local citizen dialogue at spaces like libraries. Here’s a recording of the interview: https://www.wnyc.org/story/enacting-change-bottom/.

Museums and Libraries Step-Up Efforts to Tackle Economic Distress in Poor Communities, Says New Report from IMLS and LISC

Washington, DC— A new national report finds that many museums and libraries are leveraging their prominent local positions to help rebuild troubled neighborhoods, driving economic, educational and social efforts that help raise standards of living.

The findings will be used to launch discussions at a series of invitational community meetings this fall and winter in Walterboro, S.C.; Indianapolis, Ind.; Minneapolis–St. Paul, Minn.; Philadelphia, Pa.; and Oakland, Calif.

The report includes examples from nine different museum and library initiatives, including:

The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis. The museum decided to expand into its existing neighborhood, the Mid-North neighborhood, rather than build new facilities downtown. After taking the lead on transportation enhancements and acquiring a brownfield site to create green space, the museum became a leader in a citywide development effort managed by LISC.

The Detroit Public Library. The Parkman Branch houses one of 10 learning labs in Detroit that connects adults who have limited literacy and math skills to career pathways. The branch participates in the Hope Village Initiative, a neighborhood network of nine institutions serving a 100-block area, by providing skills training programs, and it is part of a community referral program linking individuals to area agencies for assistance with healthcare, parenting, and tax preparation.

Colleton Museum & Farmers Market (Walterboro, S.C.). The museum expanded into an old remodeled grocery store at the edge of downtown and now administers a farmer’s market there. The new space doubles as a town hall and community center. By partnering with community organizations, the museum provides health education through cooking classes and the statewide Eat Smart, Move More program.

“Our nation’s libraries and museums have vast potential to develop the physical, social, and economic initiatives that are so necessary for comprehensive community revitalization efforts,” said IMLS Director Dr. Kathryn K. Matthew. “I’m proud that IMLS and LISC have collaborated to identify leading examples of this cross-sectoral work and that IMLS provides the funding to support this vital work.”

“Many libraries and museums have moved beyond their traditional roles and are now key partners helping long-distressed communities build stability and growth,” said Michael Rubinger, LISC president and CEO. “They are advocates, community planners and economic engines—recognizing the needs of residents and responding in ways that help drive lasting change.”

About the Institute of Museum and Library Services
The Institute of Museum and Library Services is the primary source of federal support for the nation’s 123,000 libraries(link is external) and 35,000 museums. Our mission is to inspire libraries and museums to advance innovation, lifelong learning, and cultural and civic engagement. Our grant making, policy development, and research help libraries and museums deliver valuable services that make it possible for communities and individuals to thrive. To learn more, visit www.imls.gov and follow us on Facebook(link is external) and Twitter(link is external).

About LISC
LISC equips struggling communities with the capital, program strategy, and know-how to become places where people can thrive. It combines corporate, government and philanthropic resources. Since 1980, LISC has invested $14.7 billion to build or rehab 330,000 affordable homes and apartments and develop 53 million square feet of retail, community and educational space. For more, visit www.lisc.org(link is external).

The Kettering Foundation is offering a limited number of copies of its newest book The Ecology of Democracy: Finding Ways to Have a Stronger Hand in Shaping Our Future to all libraries interested in hosting book discussion groups or other community conversations. A series of questions to facilitate these conversations is also available.

A press release, book description, book postcard, and sample questions are attached.

This is a wonderful opportunity for libraries to participate in discussions about the future of our democracy with concerned citizens in their communities. The effort is co-sponsored by the American Library Association Center for Civic Life and the National Coalition on Dialogue and Deliberation.

Todayâ€™s communities are challenged by polarizing, often intractable conflicts.Â Many librarians and journalists engaging residents in civil discourse to explore values, beliefs, and politics are often unaware of natural allies in their communities who can help: dialogue and deliberation practitioners.

Join us at the upcoming NCDD Conference

for a session to exploreâ€¦

Beyond Books:

Librarians, Journalists and Dialogue Professionals Working Together

Saturday, October 18, 2014

9:00 am â€“ 10:30 am, Lake Anne A

Whatâ€™s Possible When Information Professionals like Librarians, and Journalists and Dialogue Practitioners Work Together to Inform and Engage Communities?

Facilitated by:

Nancy Kranich, founder and convener of the American Library Association (ALA) Center for Civic Life

Marla Crockett,Â public engagement consultant who worked in public broadcasting for more than 25 years as a news manager, producer, talk show host, and reporter.

This session will bring to NCDD an opportunity to join a conversation begun in 2012 with librarians, journalists, and civic practitioners sponsored by Journalism That Matters in conjunction with the American Library Association and other organizations.Â Â Details about that gathering including session notes and video recordings of speakers and participants are available at:Â www.biblionews.org.Â Â Â That experience can inform NCDD conference participants about what’s possible for building a civic infrastructure within their communities in collaboration with librarians, journalists, and other information agents.

The 6th National Conference on Dialogue & Deliberation (NCDD)Â will include:

Starts week of January 13th

Since the release of the report All Together Now: Â Collaboration and Innovation for Youth Engagement, CIRCLE has been in conversation with a wide range of stakeholders Â interested in and committed to improving the civic and political engagement opportunities and outcomes for ALL youth in the United States. Â ThisÂ FREEÂ and open online seminar is an effort to reach out and engage individuals and groups interested in extending the conversation about that state of youth engagement and future strategies to improve it. Â The seminar welcomes young people, parents, educators, policymakers, youth advocates, researchers and others to join this five-week learning community. Â The seminar is also designed to allow for multiple levels of participant and will have synchronous and asynchronous elements to accommodate those who need flexibility.

Goals

Introduce participants to the key findings and recommendations of the report as a means to ground our conversations in the research and provide an opportunity for participants to exchange additional information about what they have seen on the ground.

Engage a diverse set of participants in thinking and dialogue around the report that would not be possible in more geographically- or strategy-bound environments

Provide a platform for advocates, those working in the fields of civic learning and engagement, researchers, commissioners and CIRCLE staff to write, reflect and share their thinking and response to the report

Create an environment and structure that would prompt participants to adjust, design or propose strategies, actions, programming or activities that could extend the report into real world environments.

Outcomes

A better and deeper understanding of the research behind the report

How the research and recommendations of the report can be applied to participantsâ€™ practice

New ideas for actions and activities to support the recommendations in the report

Extended thinking about challenges, opportunities and recommendations in the report as well as provide additional information and ideas to supplement it

Information and experience exchange between groups committed to improved civic learning and engagement of youth

Researchers connect to work in the field and practitioners think about elements that they could use to evaluate the work

Creation of materials (in any format) that can be shared online (digital artifacts) for the benefit of a broader audience

As digital communication technologies have evolved over the past few decades, the convergence of network structure and accessibility with hardware and software advances has allowed individuals to interact in various, even contradictory, ways. They can explore, hide, reach out, evaluate, connect, negotiate, exchange, and coordinate to a greater degree than ever before. Furthermore, this has translated to an ever-increasing number of users interacting with information in unprecedented ways and, due to device portability, in totally new physical locations. Twitter, Facebook, and Foursquare update each other simultaneously across application platforms with near-real time photos and impressions of places; mobile exercise applications allow users to track their own movements as well as view where others in their geographic vicinity went running; Yelp users can read selective reviews from social network friends and strangers in their community on a specific restaurant; and Facebook friends can see what their peers bought, listened to, and read – from anywhere they are able to access the Internet. Most of these apps update across platforms enabling both maximum reach across a userâ€™s social group as well as a highly selective direction of information to a subset of their social network.

Just as the rapidly evolving landscape of connectivity and communications technology is transforming the individualâ€™s experience of the social sphere, what it means to participate in civic life is also changing, both in how people do it and how it is measured. Civic engagement includes all the ways in which individuals attend to the concerns of public life, how one learns about and participates in all of the issues and contexts beyond oneâ€™s immediate private or intimate sphere. New technologies and corresponding social practices, from social media to mobile reporting, are providing different ways to record, share, and amplify that attentiveness. Media objects or tools that impact civic life can be understood within two broad types: those designed specifically with the purpose of community engagement in mind (for instance, a digital game for local planning or an app to give feedback to city council) or generic tools that are subsequently appropriated for engaging a community (such as Twitter or Facebookâ€™s role in the Arab Spring or London riots). Moreover, these tools can mediate any number of relationships between or among citizens, local organizations, or government institutions. Digitally mediated civic engagement runs the gamut of phenomena from organizing physical protests using social media (e.g., Occupy), to using digital tools to hack institutions (e.g., Anonymous), to using city-produced mobile applications to access and coproduce government services, to using digital platforms for deliberating. Rather than try to identify what civic media tools look like in the midst of such an array of possibilities (by focusing on in depth examples or case studies), going forward we will instead focus on how digital tools expand the context of civic life and motivations for engagement, and what participating in civic life looks like in a digital era.

We present this literature review as a means of exploring the intersection of theories of human behavior with the motivations for and benefits of engaging in civic life. We bring together literature from behavioral economics, sociology, psychology and communication studies to reveal how civic actors, institutions, and decision-making processes have been traditionally understood, and how emerging media tools and practices are forcing their reconsideration.

National Commission on Political Reform Releases New Poll on American Attitudes Toward Public and Community Service at National Town Meeting

Survey Finds Public Reluctance To Serve In Government, Strong Interest In Community Service

PHILADELPHIA,Â July 23, 2013Â /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — The Bipartisan Policy Center’s (BPC)Â CommissionÂ on Political ReformÂ andÂ USAÂ TODAYÂ released a new national poll yesterday that shows Americans are interested in participating in public service, but are reluctant to run for and serve in public office.Â The poll, conducted by the bipartisan team ofÂ Whit AyresÂ andÂ Mark Mellman for BPC andÂ USAÂ TODAY, was released as part of the commission’s second National Conversation on American Unity, a town hall meeting.Â View more about the pollÂ here……

The American Library Association Center for Civic Life is a partner in this effort announced by the White House to launch a national conversation titled: Creating Community Solutions. Â We urge libraries across the country to participate. Â Some are already on board.

The Creating Community Solutions site includes a map where you can locate local initiatives. Â You can also find people who can lead the discussion in your community. Â A dialogue guide will be available soon. Â Be sure to sign up as a participant if you plan to host a conversation locally or participate in an online dialogue. Â For more information, see the Creating Community Solutions web site at: http://creatingcommunitysolutions.org/Â Attached is an FAQ about the initiative.

Richard Harwood of the Harwood Institute for Public Innovation recently worked with the people of Newtown, CT, to determine the future for their Sandy Hook Elementary School–click here for more information. Â Joining him was librarian, Carlton Sears, who posted about his lessons from the experience on his blog. Â Below is the first paragraph of that posting by Carlton Sears. Â Click on the headline to see the full text. Â

When I learned I would be working with Rich Harwood in Newtown, I was stunned, humbled and concerned.Â Would I have the thoughtfulness, sensitivity and insight for whatever was in store?Â Â The task was daunting, the responsibility heavy:Â to help a traumatized community move forward on the future of the Sandy Hook School….more

Civic Engagement in the Digital Age

Read Full Report

OVERVIEW

Social networking sites have grown more important in recent years as a venue for political involvement, learning, and debate. Overall, 39% of all American adults took part in some sort of political activity on a social networking site during the 2012 campaign…..read more